The Parish Magazine September 2022

the parish noticeboard — 2
Christian Basics — Part 7
By Rev Paul Hardingham
What does the Holy
Spirit do? (Part 2)
Maksim Shmeljov, dreamstime.com
Somebody once defined a football match as ‘22 people on
the field desperately in need of rest, watched by 50,000
people in the stands, desperately in need of exercise'. It
reminds us that church is not a spectator sport! The Holy
Spirit equips us to serve God in the Church and daily life
through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
BIRTHDAY PRESENT
These gifts are variously described as spiritual gifts (1
Corinthians 12:1) or grace gifts (1 Corinthians 1:7), the latter
word being used in modern Greek for a birthday present!
They are love gifts from God that we cannot earn or
deserve, that are open to everybody.
Note what Paul says, 'Now to each one the manifestation
of the Spirit is given for the common good' (1 Corinthians 12:7):
EACH ONE
To each one: the gifts are available to every Christian.
Everyone will have a different ‘gift-mix’, with their own
particular contribution to offer.
VISIBLE
The manifestation of the Spirit: the gifts of the Spirit
enable an invisible God to be real and visible. As we
exercise the gifts that God has given to us, in our speech
or service, people will be able to say, ‘God is at work here’!
OTHERS
For the common good: the aim of the gifts is to build up
the body of Christ and extend the kingdom of God. They
are not intended to meet our own needs or reputation, but
simply to serve and encourage others.
UNWRAPPING YOUR PRESENT
With the gifts given by God, we are able to fulfil his
purposes in his world. Paul urges us to ‘eagerly desire’ the
gifts that God has for us (1 Corinthians 12:31).
How true is this for me? Any present that we are given
needs unwrapping before we can enjoy it. Are we doing
this with our spiritual gifts?
Happy
days
around
the
camp
fire
By Claude Masters
The Parish Magazine - September 2022 9
Claude's
view
from
the
pew
With a few empty places in the pews where the regulars
often sat — they were taking their annual holidays — the
words of an old song came to mind: ‘These are the times we
shall dream about and we’ll call them the good old days’.
This song, and one about a man named Michael Finnigan,
who climbed a tree and barked his shinigan, were those I
remember singing around a scout camp fire when I was a lad.
Although it was during the austere time after the Second
World War they were happy days. Sometimes it would be a
large fire at a district rally with hundreds of others but most
were at the end of a day in a troop camp when we were around
the fire that had cooked our meals. We sat cross legged on the
ground with the wood smoke stinging our eyes and holding
hot cocoa in chipped enamel mugs. The cocoa was invariably
‘accidentally’ knocked over as little sugar could be spared
from the meagre rations.
As well as their personal kit each camper was asked to
bring their food rations. At a weekend camp one lad turned
up with a thin slice of butter, not even enough for half a slice
of bread. A bit embarrassed, he explained how his mother
had carefully divided his weekend ration from the family's
allowance. Most mothers were more generous but it was well
known that lads would go home from camp and tell their
parents that they had not had enough to eat.
At one camp salt was accidentally put into a freshly brewed
dixie of tea and another lad poured all the sugar we had into it
thinking it would cover the taste of the salt!
Together with the singing and yelling, a campfire would
include short enactments called stunts. The longer my
favourite took to perform the better it was: Two lads are
dressed as country locals, sat on a log and chewing bits of
straw. It started with a
lengthy silence then a cow
bell rings and they turn
their heads to watch an
imaginary cow wander
slowly by. Another silence
and one lads says, 'That be
farmer Gile’s cow'. More
silence then the other says
'No it bain’t. Be farmer
Browns'. Longer silence,
then the first lad stands up
and after more silence say’s
'I be going ‘ome, I bain’t
come ‘ere to listen to an
argument!' Happy days!
jonathan-forage, unsplash.com